MSU’s recruitment activities aimed at Native
Americans include hiring a Native American recruiter (who is Native American)
to work in New Student Services and assigning the Native American student
advisor to assist in recruiting.These
efforts involve traveling to tribal community high schools and tribal colleges,
presenting at career fairs, and working with high school career
counselors.Our outreach to
reservations and surrounding communities involves currently enrolled students
talking to high school students and tribal leaders about the value of higher
education and their satisfaction with MSU. The Montana Apprenticeship Program
(MAP) brings junior and senior high school students to campus for six weeks
during the summer.Middle and high
school science and mathematics teachers also participate in summer enrichment
programs on campus.The Native American
Student Advisor coordinates campus visits of students and teachers from tribal
community schools.Despite these
efforts, our enrollment of American Indian students peaked at 2.5% in Fall 1996
and has declined to 2.0% in Fall 2000.

The University makes no special efforts to recruit
Hispanic or Asian American students.A
significant percentage of the African American students enrolled at the
University have been recruited for their athletic abilities.The following chart traces enrollment
patterns by percentage of Native American, other ethnic and racial minority
students, and percent of total known, U.S. citizens or permanent resident
aliens.Students listing “Other” were
included although, at this time, it is impossible to determine whether anyone
so identifying him- or herself is using this category to denote a mixed racial
heritage.The data show that the
percentage enrollment of all ethnic and racial minority groups has remained
constant (between 4.2% and 5.1%) over the past eight years.

Student
Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity

Fall

Total

Nat

Am

% N.A.

Black

Hispanic

Asian

Other

Total R/E

% R/E

Total ALL

%

2000

10515

211

2.0%

38

133

80

48

299

2.8%

510

4.9%

1999

10219

216

2.1%

38

116

95

39

288

2.8%

504

4.9%

1998

10035

227

2.3%

25

110

87

21

243

2.4%

470

4.7%

1997

10037

242

2.4%

32

113

88

19

252

2.5%

494

4.9%

1996

9795

240

2.5%

33

118

93

14

258

2.6%

498

5.1%

1995

9665

231

2.4%

36

113

86

15

250

2.6%

481

5.0%

1994

9281

231

2.5%

33

110

88

12

243

2.6%

474

5.1%

1993

8967

212

2.4%

38

96

70

9

213

2.4%

425

4.7%

1992

8435

186

2.2%

29

88

46

6

169

2.0%

355

4.2%

B.Graduation/Completions

In addition to participating in
the OCHE sponsored Gear Up program aimed at intervening at the middle school
level to establish norms for academic success, the University sponsors or
provides programs and services aimed at retaining students until
graduation.These include:

1.A full time Native American Student Advisor coordinates the
Peer Advising Program described below, monitors students’ academic progress
through an early warning system which currently tracks 40 students, and
facilitates a weekly counseling and support group which is regularly attended
by between 12 and 20 students.

2.The American Indian Club and its affiliate organizations
such as the Bobcat Drum and Dance group, the American Indian Science and
Engineering Society, and the American Indian Business Leaders Group are student
organizations with faculty/staff advisors.These groups sponsor social activities for Native American students and
their families; provide service and outreach to community groups and schools,
and organize the annual Pow Wow.

3.The Indian Club meeting room in the basement of Wilson Hall
houses the Native American Student Advisor and provides meeting and study
space, student computers, reference books and other academic resources.

4.Tutoring and learning support services are provided through
the Advance by Choice program, ASMSU tutoring, and the AIRO programs.

5.The Native American Peer Advising Program in which upper
class Indian students mentor entering and transfer students matched 14 students
with peer advisors during Fall semester.

6.The Native American Student Advisor, the staff of the AIRO
program and Advance By Choice work with the tribal colleges to ease transition
issues facing students when they enter MSU.

7.A number of programs and initiatives provide academic
enhancement activities and support for students in particular majors or
academic programs.These include the
AIRO program, the Initiative for Minority Student Development for students
interested in biomedical/health science careers, the American Indian Business
Leaders Chapter, the AISES chapter, and the EMPower Program in Engineering.

C.Funding

In addition to the Indian Fee
Waivers and other scholarships summarized by the OCHE, discretionary funds
support the following staff, programs and/or services:

1.The tenurable faculty, the Native American Student Advisor,
and classified staff of the Native American Studies Program (6 FTE) and the
operating expenses and other support for the academic minor and Masters of Arts
degree in Native American Studies.

2.The computers, reference books, academic aids, and overhead
for the Indian Club room.

3.The AIRO Office and the EMPower program, which are funded in
part by Dean of the College of Engineering.

4.The minority admissions representative in New Student
Services.

5.Outreach to and conferences for tribal college librarians,
funded by CNAS and the Renne Library.

6.The Multicultural Resources Center, funded by ASMSU.

7.The Enhanced Recruitment Program funded by the Provost’s
Office.

8.Funds to match the William and Flora Hewlett Grant to
restructure the University’s core curriculum.

9.Use of Berger gift monies to support the Pow Wow, the Native
American Emergency Student Loan Fund, recruitment trips and expenses, sponsored
lectures, and other special projects and initiatives.

10.The Endowed Chair in Native American Studies is partially
funded by the Provost, the Dean of the College of Letters and Science, and the
interest from the endowment.

11.New student orientation sessions that focus on diversity and
creating a tolerant and accepting campus environment are supported from
orientation fees.

D.Faculty/Staff

Since 1998, the Provost’s Office
has provided funds for the Affirmative Action Office to use to enhance
recruitment of women and ethnic minorities.These funds have been used to advertise vacancies in specialized
recruitment sources such as the Affirmative Action Registry, to recruit
at conferences and caucuses attended by women and ethnic minorities, and to
invite additional women and ethnic minority candidates to campus for
interviews.This incentive money was
at least partially responsible for the recruitment and subsequent hiring of an
Assistant Professor of Architecture who is Native American and an Assistant
Professor of Business who is Hispanic.

American Indians and other
minorities are currently employed in the following senior leadership positions:

1.The newly appointed Interim Dean of the College of
Engineering is Native American.

2.The newly appointed Dean of the College of Business is
Hispanic.

3.The Endowed Chair of Native American Studies is Native
American.

4.The Head of the Department of Native American Studies, the
Director of the Center for Bilingual/Multicultural Education, one of the
Extension Service Directors, and the MONTS Director are Native American.

5.The Directors of the Advance By Choice, the AIRO program,
and the Office of Tribal Services are Native American.

Recruiting American Indian and
ethnic minority faculty continues to be a challenge due to extremely low
availability.For example, based on
1997 availability figures, which are the most recent, only 151 American Indians
received doctoral degrees in all fields, making their overall availability
0.5%.MSU employs 6 tenurable faculty,
counting a department head, for a utilization of 1.3%.This means that the University’s employment
of Native American faculty exceeds their overall availability.MSU employs 9 tenurable Asian faculty or
1.9% of the total tenurable instructional faculty.The overall availability of Asian Americans with doctoral degrees
is 10.3%, meaning that the University is underutilizing Asian faculty.MSU employs only one tenurable Hispanic
faculty member and no African American faculty, making our utilization far
below the overall availability.

Two of 63 administrators (3.1%)
are American Indian or ethnic or racial minorities.Unfortunately, there are no reliable availability figures.The most current statistics show that 13.8%
of administrators in education and related fields are “Black” and
“Hispanic.”No comparable statistics
for Asian Americans or American Indians are available.Thus, as far as can be determined, the
University is underutilizing racial and ethnic minorities.

The situation in regard to staff
is surprising.1990 Census data for
Gallatin, Madison, Meager, and Park Counties, the area from which staff are
generally recruited, shows an overall availability of 2.3% for all American
Indian and other racial and ethnic minorities. The University’s overall
utilization of nonfaculty/non-administrative staff was 3.1%, indicating that we
have met the goal of employing American Indians and other ethnic and racial
minorities in staff positions equal to their availability in the relevant labor
force.

F.Coursework and Programs

The current core curriculum
requires that students take 6 credits in courses designated“Multicultural Perspectives and Global
Issues.”While it is not possible, at
this time, to determine how many students enroll in the 56 specific courses
currently listed with this designation, it is possible to estimate the numbers
of students enrolled in courses in Native American Studies, the most popular of
the designated “multicultural/global” courses:

Enrollment
in Native American Studies Courses

Term

Total Credit
Hours

Estimated #
of Students

Fall 2000

1445

482

Summer 2000

393

131

Spring 2000

1443

481

Fall 1999

1373

458

In addition, during Fall 2000, six students were
enrolled as NAS minors; ten were enrolled in the NAS graduate program.

Students in General Studies are required to enroll in
GS 101, Social Equity, a 3 credit course which helps them interpret events,
situations and conflicts from diverse cultural perspectives and examine their
beliefs, attitudes, and perspectives with regard to multicultural issues.In Fall 2000, 580 students enrolled in this
course.An additional 240 first year
students enrolled in CLS (College of Letters and Science) 101, College Seminar,
another 3 credit course which introduces students to the University, stresses
the development of critical thinking skills, and prepares them to participate
in a diverse community of learners.Based
on the above figures, approximately 11% of the student body enrolled in courses
or seminars that enhanced multicultural awareness and understanding.

MSU is in the third year of a four-year grant to
restructure the undergraduate core curriculum.Three specific initiatives focus on diversity and multicultural
education.These are (1) the
proposed revision of the freshman seminar includes a significant diversity
component, (2) the development of a new courses under an“Inquiry” designation which will pair
faculty from the Natural Sciences and the Humanities and Social Sciences to
co-teach newly developed courses on contemporary issues from a cross
disciplinary and multicultural perspective, and (3) the proposal that students
take one course designated as a “diversity” course from a list of new,
existing, and reconfigured courses.

Finally, the College of Education requires secondary
education majors to complete EDSD 363 Multicultural Education and elementary
education majors to complete EDCI Introduction to Multicultural Education in
order to graduate and obtain teaching certification.

IVFuture
Directions

A.Assessment/Future
Areas

In the University’s Mid-Decade
Report, dated March 1997, the University identified six goals.These goals and a brief assessment of each
follows:

1.Articulate the institution’s continuing commitment to
cultural diversity...and ensure the University community is committed to
eliminating discrimination and to establishing a learning and working
environment that promotes achievement while fostering tolerance.

Assessment:This goal can
never be accomplished but many committed faculty and staff work hard to
implement it.For example, the
Nondiscrimination Policies and Procedures are posted electronically on the
University’s Web site and are printed in the University Bulletin and Class
Schedules.Certainly, the focus of both
Freshmen Seminars is to help entering students create and maintain a diverse,
tolerant and inquisitive learning community.

2.Continue and strengthen programs and services which enhance
minority participation in the University and institutionalize effective
programs.

Assessment:Several important,
successful programs that were initially funded from grants and contracts have
been institutionalized including the EMPower project which grew out of ABC,
SEA, and AIRO initiatives, the expanded student recruitment activities of New
Student Services and the NAS advisor, the Tribal College Library support
project, and the Native American Housing Technical Assistance Institute.

3.Involve all faculty and staff in multicultural/diversity
training.

Assessment:Several workshops
for faculty and staff have been provided over the past eight years, including
the Science and Engineering for All (SEA) project which trained selected
faculty in understanding the issues and problems women and American Indian
students experience in college and the restructuring of the Faculty Orientation
program to focus on the diverse learning styles of students. Despite these and
other efforts,this goal has generally
not been accomplished in any consistent, systematic fashion, due primarily to
lack of money and staff resources.

4.Meet student needs for multicultural understanding.

Assessment: As explained above, this goal has been the met through a number
of programs and initiatives including the Freshman Seminars, the on-going
revision of the core curriculum, the multicultural course requirements for
graduation and teacher certification, the focus on diversity in New Student
Orientation, and in the establishment of the Native American Studies Graduate
Program.

5.A.Achieve parity in
enrollment by increasing enrollment to approximately 500 America

Indian
students by 2002 and increasing the enrollment of other ethnic minority
students.

Assessment: Based on the past eight years of experience,
it is probably unrealistic to expect the University to increase its enrollment
of Native American students to 6%, the representation of Native peoples in the
state’s population, based on the 1990 Census.It is more realistic to expect the University’s enrollment to reflect
the percentage representation of American Indians in the over 16, high school
graduate population, which is approximately 3%.Even with these more realistic expectations, the University will
need to continue and enhance its student recruitment efforts.

B.Increase American Indian and other ethnic
minority faculty and staff by intensifying recruitment and hiring efforts.

Assessment: Despite modest
success in recruiting American Indians and other racial and ethnic minorities
faculty and staff in proportion to their representation in the relevant labor
force, the University will continue to emphasize recruitment and target
specific positions for enhanced recruitment efforts.

C.Continue and expand “pipeline” related
activities.

Assessment: Many activities and
initiatives have been aimed at keeping students in the educational pipeline
through high school, into college, and through graduation.Among these have been the Science and
Engineering for All project, the EMPower and AISES initiatives with reservation
high schools, Native American Peer Advisors program, and the summer residence
programs sponsoredby MAP and planned by Gear Up.

Assessment:Graduation
rates are particularly difficult to determine for all populations, but
particularly problematic for Native American students.The Completions study, for example, shows
how many students graduated, but not how many started.The graduation rate study shows how many
started and finished, but is limited to first- time, full-time degree seeking,
continuously enrolled students.Since
many American Indian and other ethnic minority students do not enroll in MSU as
first-time or full-time students and many do no maintain continuous enrollment,
the graduation rate study misses many students who may be successfully
completing their degrees.

Goals
and Improvement Targeted Over the Next 2-5 Years.

President Gamble has established the following
objectives for the University as a whole:

ØUse the resources of the University to help raise the educational
attainment of the state’s American Indian population by:

(i)helping increase high school and GED graduates,

(ii)moving students into the tribal colleges and appropriate units of MUS,

(iii)helping students transition to four year programs, and

(iv)working to improve graduation and completion rates.

ØProvide professional development opportunities for colleagues at the
tribal colleges.

ØEnsure that programs and initiatives work for Native people, as well as
the University, through careful and collaborative planning, the establishment
of realistic accountability measures, and on-going, University-wide reporting
and assessment.

On the Bozeman campus, the six goals discussed above
should be updated based on the forthcoming 2000 Census, but not radically
altered.For example, enrollment goals
should be set for the college eligible population of Native Americans and other
ethnic and racial minorities in the state, not on population as a whole.Employment goals should recalculated to
reflect the availability of under-represented populations in the relevant labor
markets.Further, graduation rates
should be studied systematically using multiple measures.Finally, the goal of universal faculty and
staff diversity training and the institutionalization of effective soft money
programs will require not just the redistribution of existing University
resources but the allocation of additional funds as well.